SortStack #947 — 2029-01-11

By year · Order from earliest to most recent.

1. The Code of Hammurabi is inscribed on a stone pillar in Babylon 1754 BCE

   Its 282 laws include the famous 'eye for an eye' principle. The original basalt stele survives and stands in the Louvre in Paris.

2. A massive earthquake and tsunami destroy Lisbon 1755

   Striking on All Saints' Day while churches were full, it killed tens of thousands and shook European philosophy — Voltaire used it to attack the idea of a perfect world.

3. The volcanic island of Krakatoa explodes in Indonesia 1883

   The blast was heard nearly 4,800 km away — likely the loudest sound in recorded history — and its ash turned sunsets blood-red worldwide for months.

4. Archduke Franz Ferdinand is assassinated in Sarajevo, triggering the First World War 1914

   The archduke's driver took a wrong turn and stalled directly in front of Gavrilo Princip, handing the assassin a second chance after the morning's bomb attempt failed.

5. The Wall Street Crash wipes out the stock market boom 1929

   The market didn't permanently regain its pre-crash peak until 1954, a quarter of a century later.

6. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay become the first to summit Everest 1953

   News of the climb reached London on the morning of Queen Elizabeth II's coronation — billed by the press as a double celebration.

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